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Video: Manhunt for Gadhafi continues

Closed captioning of: Manhunt for Gadhafi continues

>>>switching now to news from overseas. we have no idea where
gadhafi
is. while he's no longer in charge in libya, there's a huge search for him under way and as they go about the search, they're discovering more about how lavish a lifestyle he maintained. stephanie gosk has the report from
tripoli
.

>> reporter: tripoli
is theirs but as long as
moammar gadhafi
is on the run, a bells say the fight is not over. he has save havens and loyal followers. despite the $1 million bounty. the head of libya's interim council warned the city of
gadhafi
's hometown to surrender by saturday or face attack. we will decide this matter militarily, he says. we don't wish to do so but we cannot wait longer. but where is
gadhafi
? maybe dead, some say, or already out of the country. some family members have escaped, his wife and three grown children fled to neighboring algeria on monday. nine months pregnant iasha had a baby on the run. her house, looted and heavily damaged but the trappings of a luxury lifestyle plain to see. an yin door pool. massive
dining room
table still set for dinner. expensive clothes. this apulence is on display publicly for the first time, fueling the anger that average libyans feel towards the
gadhafi
family. but most believe
gadhafi
will stay and fight. he gave a now "infamous speech." saying he would hunt street to street and house to house for those that betrayed him. six months later the rebels are returning the favor. stephanie gosk, nbc news,
tripoli
.

A rebel stands on the infamous "Hand of Gadhafi" monument in the Bab Al-Azizya compound a day after numerous rebel brigades defeated Gadhafi loyalists for control of the massive military and government center, on Aug. 25, in Tripoli, Libya.

Photojournalist Benjamin Lowy describes the scene:
After breakfast our driver showed up in his white PT Cruiser and five journalists including me stuffed ourselves in. Drivers and translators are difficult to come by, so we all pooled resources and used one car.

The first stop of the day was Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziyia compound - home to the infamous "hand crushing the plane" statue. It seems like every day some of the thousands of rebels pouring into Tripoli take their turn to pose with it and spray unrelenting celebratory gunfire in the air. The rebels have been doing that for months - shooting in the air and yelling "Allah-O-Akbar." They don't seem to understand firing discipline or the fact that what comes up, must come down. I would love to see some figures, in later years, of how many civilians and rebels were killed, not by Gadhafi, but by themselves, and in happiness.
(Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com)
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Libyan rebels cringe as their position comes under fire from Gadhafi loyalist forces in the Buslim neighborhood. (Editor's note: These images were taken with a smart phone using an app that applies filters to the photography)

Photographer's view: Our little crew decided to make our way through the southern gate of the compound and came across a massing of rebels trying to clear the Buslim neighborhood - an area known to be pro-Gadhafi. In fact, green flags still flew on most buildings and most of the buildings were painted white and green.

Several gun battles ensued over the course of the morning as we pushed forward and fled with the rebel who were taking sniper fire, returning it. Eventually we walked back to our starting point at the roundabout at the southern gate of the Gadhafi compound.
(Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com)
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The bodies of four recently killed pro-Gadhafi loyalists lie in an abandoned medical encampment near the south entrance of the Bab al-Aziziya compound Aug. 25, in Tripoli, Libya.

Photographer's view: It was here that we came across dozens of bodies - at least 30 - of Gadhafi loyalist soldiers. But they weren't killed in the heat of battle. Nineteen of the bodies were in a makeshift combat hospital, the others were laid out on a grassy traffic island.

On closer inspection though, we could see that these soldiers hands were zip-tied, basically handcuffed. Their bodies were riddled with bullets. It begs the question - are the rebels now the ones committing war crimes? Did they arrest and then execute these men? Is this retribution? Probably. Is it racism, since most of these bodies were black Africans, and the rebels - North Africans and brown- skinned - think that they are all mercenaries.
(Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com)
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Rebel forces run for cover after coming under small arms fire while clearing the dangerous and pro-Gadhafi Abu Salim neighborhood.

Photographer's view: A rumor began to circulate on the wires that the rebels had surrounded a building where Gadhafi and his sons were holding up. We felt forced to investigate. Even though it was unlikely, it's not a picture or story to miss.

We all jumped on the back of a rebel vehicle - essentially embedding ourselves. We didn't want to risk the life of our driver, especially since his beloved PT Cruiser took one for the team and had the windshield shattered and the chassis dented by an erratically driven rebel technical.
(Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com)
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A Libyan fires his weapon at a building housing a Gadhafi loyalist sniper in the dangerous Abu Salim neighborhood on Aug. 25, in Tripoli, Libya.

Photographer's view: The rebels, and our own two feet, eventually took us to the Abu Salim neighborhood. It is possibly the last holdout of diehard Gadhafi forces.

It was brutal. For four hours the streets of this gated apartment complex were lit up with seemingly every type of ammunition. Small arms fire from pistols and AK-47s whittled away at building facades. Machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, RPGs and mortars were used to rout out suspected snipers.
(Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com)
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Suspected Gadhafi loyalist soldiers are pulled from apartments and lined up against a wall in the Abu Salim neighborhood by rebel forces on August 25 in Tripoli, Libya.

Photographer's view: Prisoners were taken. Most seem to be black Africans, and a few Libyans. I was scared, as I watched the rebels violently arrest these men and throw them in the back of a pickup truck, that as soon as they were out of our view, they would be executed.

Incoming sniper fire from a nearby building forced us to take cover. The untrained rebels released what I call the "death blossom" of firing in 360 degrees at pretty much everything.
(Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com)
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Walid Barui, 25, breaks his Ramadan fast with a cup of water as a building burns behind him in the still violent neighborhood of Abu Salim. Baruni took up his gun and joined the revolution weeks ago, initially reluctant since he takes care of his elderly parents. He trained in the Nalut Mountains and was part of the rebel advance that swept into Tripoli. He said his parents "couldn't be prouder" with his choice to join the rebellion.
(Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com)
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A Libyan rebel rips a poster of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi from the lobby of an apartment block.

Photographer's view: Will finding Gadhafi stop this violence? Will people dance in the streets, will shops open again? More than likely yes. But now pretty much every male in Tripoli - even teens - have some sort of firearm. There will be divisions in the rebel camp, in the National Transitional Council, as they try to shape a new country. And right now, divisions are settled by war.
(Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com)
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